Creamed Spinach is a wildly versatile side dish with incredible flavor, creamy texture, and packed with lots of rich nutrients. Fresh spinach is sautéed down, coated in a creamy, cheesy, flavorsome sauce, and made in one pan in under 15 minutes! If you’ve ever wondered how to make creamed spinach, grab a pan, head to the kitchen and let’s get this thing started!
Reasons You’ll Love This
Yes, It’s a Veggie! – Creamed spinach is like if you could eat veggies without eating veggies! It’s so delicious, you won’t believe it’s good for you.
Creamy and Cheesy – If you like spinach dip, you’ll love this easy Creamed Spinach recipe. It’s very similar in texture and flavor
Supreme Side Dish – You can pair this spinach and cream recipe with many different meats, or main meals. You can also stuff it into a pastry, like a spinach cheese danish, or add it to a casserole!
Easy to Make – This Cream Spinach recipe is so simple to make, it takes one pan and only 10 minutes of your time!
You don’t need Popeye the Sailor Man to convince you to eat this Creamed Spinach! It’s so delicious you could eat it by the spoonful, or with a handful of tortilla chips. This is perfect for picky eaters, or if you just want a new way to spice up your spinach recipe at dinner time.
Ingredients
- Baby Spinach – This recipe calls for fresh baby spinach. I really enjoy the flavor of fresh spinach in this recipe, but you can also use frozen spinach that’s been thawed, rinsed and dried.
- Garlic & Onion – You’ll need some fresh garlic and onion for this recipe. If you want you can use jarred garlic instead. If you don’t like onion you can leave it out.
- Flour – You’ll need flour to make a roux, so the sauce thickens up properly.
- Cream – Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream is the best for this recipe because of how thick it is. Anything other than heavy cream will cause the creamed spinach to come out runny.
- Parmesan Cheese – Highly recommend using freshly grated parmesan cheese, because it melts down a lot better, however, you can still use pre-grated cheese.
- Seasonings – For this recipe’s seasonings you’ll need salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg.
Step by Step Instructions
- Start by adding olive oil, garlic and onion to a pan over medium high heat, and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
- Next, add the spinach to the pan and stir continuously until the spinach shrinks down in size greatly. This may take 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the wilted spinach and continue to stir until combined.
- Add the heavy cream to the pan and let it come to a soft simmer. Stir gently, and allow the mixture to thicken up.
- Turn the heat off, add the parmesan cheese and the seasonings to the mixture, stir until combined, then serve immediately. Enjoy!
Tips and Advice
Storage – Personally I think creamed spinach is best when it’s served fresh. That said, you can store your leftover spinach in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave, or back on the stove for a few minutes until warm. You can also freeze your leftovers for up to 3 months.
Equipment
For this recipe you’ll just need a large saucepan and something heatproof to stir with!
Creamed Spinach Variations
If you really want your creamed spinach extra creamy, add a few spoonfuls of cream cheese instead of flour to the recipe. You can also use thawed, washed and dried frozen spinach instead of fresh spinach. For some extra flavor, add in a handful of some shredded white cheddar or monterey jack cheese for extra cheesiness.
FAQs
Absolutely! In fact, this recipe uses fresh spinach, and you may find you like the texture and flavor better when it’s fresh!
This could be because you didn’t use baby spinach. Regular spinach is often more bitter. It can also be because there isn’t enough seasoning, or cream to balance out the flavor of the spinach.
Serves Well With
Creamed Spinach is an iconic side dish. Here are some delicious main dishes that would be perfect alongside this recipe!
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Creamed Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/4 cup yellow onion (finely diced)
- 1 pound baby spinach (washed & dried)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
Instructions
- Start by adding olive oil, garlic and onion to a pan over medium high heat, and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
- Next, add the spinach to the pan and stir continuously until the spinach shrinks down in size greatly. This may take 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the wilted spinach and continue to stir until combined.
- Add the heavy cream to the pan and let it come to a soft simmer. Stir gently, and allow the mixture to thicken up.
- Turn the heat off, add the parmesan cheese and the seasonings to the mixture, stir until combined, then serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
